Intentions to Marry, 1919 Herekino to Wairewa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840482, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919b contains pages 501-1004, covering districts from Herekino to Wairewa

Page 833

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Geo W. Woods

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

9 January 1919

Lewis MacBain Ettershank
Winifred Elizabeth Parker

Lewis McBain Ettershank
Winifred Elizabeth Parker
💍 1919/1098

Divorced 16-12-18
Widow 17-2-17

Laborer
Storekeeper

57
40

Manunui
Manunui

7 years
6 years

Registrar's office Taumarunui

1005

9 January 1919

Jas F. Buckrell Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis MacBain Ettershank	Winifred Elizabeth Parker
BDM Match (98%)	Lewis McBain Ettershank	Winifred Elizabeth Parker
	💍 1919/1098
Condition	Divorced 16-12-18	Widow 17-2-17
Profession	Laborer	Storekeeper
Age	57	40
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Taumarunui
Folio	1005
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Jas F. Buckrell Deputy Registrar

24 February 1919

William John Rowe
Thurza Isabel Foote

William John Rowe
Thurza Isabel Foote
💍 1919/1099

Widower 23-11-12
Spinster

Railway Shunter
Schoolteacher

35
28

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

15 months
3 days

Residence of Mrs F. W. J. Peters, Taumarunui

1006

24 February 1919

Rev J. E. Ward, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	24 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Rowe	Thurza Isabel Foote
	💍 1919/1099
Condition	Widower 23-11-12	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter	Schoolteacher
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	15 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs F. W. J. Peters, Taumarunui
Folio	1006
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. E. Ward, Presbyterian

27 February 1919

Ernest Sirdefield Harston
Ruth Barbara Shirtcliffe

Ernest Sirdefield Harston
Ruth Barbara Shirtcliffe
💍 1919/443

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic duties

27
20

Taumarunui
Wellington

3 months

S. Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington

242 Wellington

George Shirtcliffe Father

27 February 1919

Rt. Rev T. H. Sprott, Bishop of Wellington

No	3
Date of Notice	27 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sirdefield Harston	Ruth Barbara Shirtcliffe
	💍 1919/443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months
Marriage Place	S. Pauls Pro Cathedral Wellington
Folio	242 Wellington
Consent	George Shirtcliffe Father
Date of Certificate	27 February 1919
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev T. H. Sprott, Bishop of Wellington

4 March 1919

Arthur Thompson
Emily Hansen

Arthur Thompson
Emily Hansen
💍 1919/1100

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic duties

21
19

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

3 days
1 year

Registrars office Taumarunui

1007

Caroline Mary Rosenbeck mother

4 March 1919

G. W. Woods Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	4 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thompson	Emily Hansen
	💍 1919/1100
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars office Taumarunui
Folio	1007
Consent	Caroline Mary Rosenbeck mother
Date of Certificate	4 March 1919
Officiating Minister	G. W. Woods Registrar

5 March 1919

Charles Henry Sands
Eva Annie Rule

Charles Henry Sands
Eva Annie Rule
💍 1919/1101

Bachelor
Widow 10.2.17

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
25

Piriaka
Manunui

3 years
9 months

Church of England Taumarunui

1008

5 March 1919

Rev J. A. Kempthorne, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	5 March 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Sands	Eva Annie Rule
	💍 1919/1101
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 10.2.17
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Piriaka	Manunui
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Taumarunui
Folio	1008
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. A. Kempthorne, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).